OP
Senior Expert
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 5,377
USofA
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"Hey, we have a great game here -- do you want it, or should we take it elsewhere?" 
It is this thought more than any other that motivated this thread. I mean if a publisher doesn't want your game because they are biased against the engine, the easy path is to go to a different publisher and NOT change the engine! 
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loved it, but when they asked about the engine, I skirted it originally and said "ah I used a middleware engine, sort of like Torque". They wanted more info, and when I finally got around to saying "Gamestudio" the interviewer went
"....
....
oh..
This is what I meant in another post about "it's not what you say but how you say it". Let's face it, if YOU don't have faith in your engine, then why would you expect your publisher to have any? The way you present the scenerio, with you actively avoiding the gamestudio moniker, would make anyone think "Why is he trying to hide that?". They may have never heard of gamestudio but the second you try to obfuscate the engine (any engine), red flags come up. This is why I take an aggressive approach and state "I use the 3D Game Studio engine" and if I get raised eyebrows, I follow up with "... the number 3 game engine on devmaster.net" and/or "... it's been around, active, and refined for 10+ years". Let's face it, if you publisher isn't impressed by an engine that is 3rd rated of ALL commercial engines on devmaster AND it is more likely than not to be around for the entire lifetime of the project, then you DO NOT want that publisher!
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write "although it's pretty good in spite of (the engine). I wouldn't want to see that in a review of my game (if I finish the thing
Get it in your head Jetpack... there will ALWAYS be this kind of review no matter WHAT game or engine you use. It is impossible to get 100% acceptance of your game unless your last name is Wright! The masses will ALWAYS find a weak link to exploit and in our case it's the hobbyware label our engine has. Big deal! If that's the worst they can do, bring it on!
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It's truly amazing how the word can just knock an initial good impression to pieces, because the assumption is "well, you didn't really make this" or "hm this person is using a game maker, they're an amateur" EVEN IF THE DEMO LOOKS GREAT
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re fed up with templateshooters and get a good game submission with acknex.dll in it, it's more likely, that the submission gets a warm place in the recycle bin next to the 10 other template games
Harsh Reality Check (aka: another Fastlane69 rant)
If you make a game that looks like a template shooter, acts like a template shooter, and PLAYS like a template shooter, what do you expect? I'm not going to deconstruct your games or submissions to see if that was your problem; that's not my point. But I have no doubt that this happens: that someone clicks together a zombie game and then goes to Activision to try to sell it! Yeah, I'm sure it happens a lot and sets up a reputaion for "Kiddyware".
So is the solution trying to hide? Should we bury our collective 3DGS heads and hope that no one notices our engine? NO! We make better games! Sorry mate, I know that you are sick of hearing that from me but there is no more basic truth or easier solution to your problem. Make a game that DOESN'T look template and people will not care that it was built with 3DGS. I mean honestly I don't know of another way to get what you want since I'm convinced that the root problem is not the 3DGS name (ohterwise there would be no success stories whatsoever to report) but the presentation of our products.
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Making a good demo for the engine would be a very nice idea, this could raise the reputation and show what the engine can be used for! Just look at the old car demo wich is still at the downloadpage and looks so outdated.
This is still a good idea but one that fails for the same reason: Conitec can balance spending money on Development, Advertising, or Demos. I wouldn't "mind" a demo or advertising, but what does that advertising and demo do for my game? Does it make it faster, easier, better? If Conitec spent 100 Million on advertising this year, do you think that the publishers that rejected you will call you back or suddenly see the engine in a new light? I serious doubt it.
So once again, work on those things that you have control over -- the game, the game, the game -- and eventually it will be good enough and you will be savvy enough that no publisher would DARE turn you down!
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